482 
VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
his stupid lad, — that he had let him knock his knee against the manger. He 
(witness) told him, he ought to have prevented it. The horse came back to 
his place in November, to go to grass, and there was then a scab on the 
knee, from a wound, not from a blister. Some ointment was sent to dress 
the wound. The horse was altogether about three weeks under the treat- 
ment of Mr. Thomas. Eight or ten days, in his judgment, was a sufficient 
time for a horse to remain under treatment for a blister. There was a charge 
for keep and treatment for 21 days. He recollected being at Lucas’ Repo- 
sitory when the horse was put up for sale, and the highest bidding for it was 
£14 5s, at which sum he was bought in. He believed it was not the inten- 
tion to sell him, but only to ascertain what he would sell for. Mr. Thomas 
told him the horse had been tied to the rack, and pointed to the manger, and 
told him he had injured himself by knocking his knee against it. In his 
judgment, the proper mode to treat a horse, was to turn him round, and to 
tie his head to the bastions ; or if he was not reversed, to tie his head to 
pillars in the centre of the stall, so that he could not injure his knees. The 
latter plan was sometimes pursued, as they could not approach the manger, 
and some horses were quieter with their heads towards the manger than 
when turned round. He had been in the habit of knowing and treating 
horses thirty years, and had blistered a great many in his time, and had blis- 
tered some very lately. 
Cross-examined. — T o his knowledge and experience, the custom, and the pro- 
per treatment, was to reverse the horses when'blistered on the fore legs. That 
was the safest way ; and if a professional man adopted another practice, likely 
to damage the horse, it was a bad course. 
Mr. Cottingham. — But is it unprofessional so to treat horses when blis- 
tering ? 
Witness. — I mean to say, to tie them to the rack is a very bad practice ; I 
won’t say any thing about the profession ; they will profess any thing. 
The witness was then cross-examined at great length, in order to shew that 
when the horse was turned into the field, the other horses drove him over a low 
rail fence, which he leaped, and in so doing injured his knee by knocking it 
against the rail, as the wound in the knee broke out again on the following day. 
The witness produced a stake as high as the rail, from which it appeared that 
it was only 16 inches high, and the rail had not been knocked down. 
George Bentham examined. — Was formerly in the employment of Mr. 
Lawrence : first observed the injury to the horse’s knee in those stables, and told 
his master, who went to see him. He had seen horses blistered on the fore 
legs ; he had seen them tied both ways, with their heads turned round to the 
back end of the stall (their heads where their tails should be), and also tied up 
to the rack. In his opinion the safest way was to have them tied with their 
heads at the back of the stall. 
Alfred Bagnall examined. — Is a veterinary surgeon, and a member of the 
college of surgeons. He had seen the horse ; he had a large blemish on his 
knee. He had been in the habit of blistering horses. In his judgment, the 
proper mode of tying a horse, while under the treatment of blistering on the 
fore legs, was to turn him round in the stall, to prevent his hurting himself. 
He could not then injure his legs; there was nothing to kick against. The 
blister irritated the legs where applied, and the horse was apt to kick. 
Cross-examined. — A horse under treatment ought to be turned round 
about 36 hours. The necessity for this would depend on the strength of the 
blister, and not on the temper of the horse. It was his practice to turn them 
round. 
Peter Burns, livery stable keeper. — Had been in the habit of seeing horses 
blistered, and in his opinion, the proper way to fasten a horse under this 
